FRIDAY 8:59 P.M.

Back at the office an hour later, my crew had assembled. I filled them in on all my adventures and finished, “We’re going to Hegewisch and investigate that black ops site.”

Georgia huffed, “We’re going to Hegewisch! In a blizzard no less! Not Paris in the springtime. What is wrong with this picture? Is this what James Bond would do? Go to Hegewisch? Honestly, when we started this spy shit, I thought we’d get at least…” She waved her arms toward the ceiling. “I thought we’d be going to some place exotic and foreign like Timbuktu.”

Duncan asked, “You’ve been to Timbuktu?”

“It’s nice this time of year. If you like sand. Or maybe someplace romantic like Paris, that would be great. But Hegewisch! I’ve been to Hegewisch. Hegewisch is not Paris.”

I said, “Sorry to disappoint you.”

Georgia said, “I want to be told by a tall, dark, mysterious stranger to meet him in Pierre’s at the third pillar from the left.”

“In Paris?” Duncan asked.

Georgia sighed a great sigh. “There is only one third pillar from the left, and only one Pierre’s, and only one Paris.”

“And a good thing,” Jerry said.

Georgia went on, “Or Marseilles. Don’t the spies in all the spy novels and all the spy movies, spend some time in Marseilles?”

“Probably not all of them,” Duncan said.

“Well, they should.”

“Why Marseilles?” Duncan asked.

“There’s a lovely little spot down by the waterfront. The best oysters on the continent.”

Jerry said, “Hurrah for the oysters.”

Georgia got a dreamy look in her eyes. “And I want one of those James Bond cars. You know the kind where, while you drive, you can be sautéing exotic vegetables while Coq au Vin simmers in the oven, meanwhile making out with a hot spy, at the same time shooting evil doers, or launching a rocket ship to Jupiter, and shopping for a new outfit.” She sighed. “All at the same time.”

Jerry said, “Who says we don’t have such a thing?”

“We who?”

“Me and my husband in Omro.” Jerry was blissfully married to a librarian in Omro, Wisconsin.

“I didn’t know you were mechanical.”

“I’m not. My husband is.”

“A librarian who fixes cars?”

Jerry corrected, “Builds and fixes cars.”

Georgia sidled over to Jerry. “I’m in love.”

“Stick to hunky actors with foreign accents.”

Georgia huffed. “I shall force myself.”

Duncan said to Georgia, “I thought you had several cars, all of them fabulous.”

“I wouldn’t have anything less.” She tapped Jerry’s well-muscled bicep. “But there’s always room for one more.”

Duncan added, “Especially those that come equipped with hunky actors with foreign accents.”

Georgia said, “I always have hope.” She sighed a great sigh. “What we really need is a car chase.”

Jerry said, “We had a snow plow chase. Does that count?”

“I wasn’t there.” She leaned against my desk and gazed at the Picasso. She spoke to the picture, “Or what we need is a morally ambiguous hero who has to make difficult decisions. That’s all the rage these days.”

Duncan said, “You watch too many spy movies.”

Georgia turned to us. Instead of responding to Duncan, she went on, “Or better yet explosions.” She did a pirouette round the room. “No, no, no. A helicopter has to appear at a dramatic moment and then explode.”

Duncan said, “Everybody’s got one of those.”

Georgia said, “Then why not one of those clocks ticking down, those LED readouts, that the good guys stop with one second left.”

Duncan shook his head. “If everybody’s done a helicopter, everyone has certainly done the clicking tock trick.”

Jerry said, “You mean ticking clock trick.”

Duncan said, “I like Spoonerisms.” He went on, “I was curious about Hibbard’s threats about mass death. Except in Hollywood movies and poorly written spy thrillers, there really is no easy way to deliver that much death on a massive scale. Is there a comet headed this way that we don’t know about that Vincek and company know about?”

Georgia said, “Whose turn is it to keep track?”

Duncan and Jerry shook their heads.

Georgia said, “And we’ve got another one who he claims not to have gone to bed with.”

Jerry said, “Nobody new is dead.”

Duncan added, “That we know about.”

I said, “He was only shot. He was fine before I couldn’t find him in the hospital.”

Georgia said, “Did you check the morgue?”

I said, “Enough.” If we were going to assail the Chicago black ops site, it most likely was going to be dangerous. If harassing me let off a little steam, I could handle it.

Georgia stopped moving and pacing and said, “You know that old guy you talked to, Henry, I think he may have been on to something. With all the different spies and terrorists after Vincek and his crowd, maybe they all cancel each other out.”

Duncan said, “Unless everybody decides to get lethal.”

“I think we’re already to that level.”

Georgia said, “Maybe it would be better if you announced your departures and arrivals. If all of them were after you, then maybe none of them would get you. They’d mow each other down.”

I said, “We couldn’t be that lucky.”

While they’d been bantering, Duncan had been multi-tasking, calling up the specs for all the old steel mills on the southeast side and loading them onto his phone.